The UK government has restructured its science policy apparatus by abolishing the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and moving science responsibilities to the new Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST), a move that Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society, has condemned as "quite a big mistake". Nurse argues that science cuts across multiple government remits including health, defence, transport, energy and the environment, and restricting it to a business-focused department will undermine the country's future scientific endeavour. He also criticises the government's decision to separate artificial intelligence from science, viewing AI as fundamentally scientific rather than merely a technology.

Concerns centre on the structural subordination of science within a department headed by Jonathan Reynolds that encompasses nine policy areas, of which only one relates to science. Nurse warns that civil servants in business-focused departments prioritise commercial application over broader scientific exploration, and notes that previous attempts to merge science with business departments have not worked well. Alicia Greated of the Campaign for Science and Engineering adds that the restructuring has severed crucial links with the Department for Education and universities, undermining long-term scientific strategy and threatening basic research investment in favour of shorter-term departmental priorities.